Bowen & Bok's Study on Considering Race in University Admission

Review by Ethan Bronner in the New York Times, 9 September, 1998 (Extracts)

A major new study of the records and experiences of tens of thousands of students over 20 years at the nation's elite colleges concludes that their affirmative action policies created the backbone of the black middle class and taught white classmates the value of integration.

The study, which challenges much of the conservative thinking about affirmative action (has been published) by Princeton University Press in a book titled "The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions." It was written by two former Ivy League presidents, William G. Bowen of Princeton University, an economist, and Derek Bok of Hardvard University, a political scientist.

Examining grades, test scores, choice of major, graduation rates, careers and attitudes of 45,000 students at 28 of the most selective universities, the authors say that although they are both advocates of race-conscious admissions policies, they wanted to test the assumptions underlying such policies.

Having completed the work, they say it should put to rest major objections to such policies ... With its rich database and carefully calibrated tone, the study will most likely lead the charge in a liberal counteroffensive to recast the debate over affirmative action, which in the last two years has been rolled back.

The counter-offensive ... seeks to broaden the notion of merit beyond tests and grades and hails affirmative action less as a means of overcoming past discrimination -an older argument with decreasing political support – and more as a way to insure a healthier future for whites and blacks.

The Bowen-Bok study limits itself to the practice of race-conscious admissions in elite higher education; that is, to considering the race of applicants to be a critical factor in whether they should be admitted - as important, say, as where they are from or extracurricular activities.

The study begins by documenting the problem: blacks who enter elite institutions do so with lower test scores and grades than those of whites. And as they work their way through colleges like Yale and Princeton and state institutions like the Universities of Michigan and North Carolina, blacks receive lower grades and graduate at a lower rate.

But after graduation, the survey found, these students achieve notable successes. They earn advanced degrees at rates identical to those of their white classmates. They are even slightly more likely than whites from the same institutions to obtain professional degrees in law, business and medicine. And they become more active than their white classmates in civic activities.

The authors call black graduates of elite institutions "the backbone of the emergent black middle class" and say that their influence extends beyond the workplace. "They can serve as strong threads in a fabric that binds their own community together and binds those communities into the larger social fabric as well", the authors say. ...

Skeptics might argue that the success Professors Bowen and Bok think they witnessed in those studied was simply a result of continuing preferences granted them by institutions and corporations as they rose. But Bowen said that those who entered college in 1976 were today about 40 years old and had had to demonstrate that they deserved the opportunities offered them.

He added, "The overwhelming nature and magnitude of the results is so striking that it is hard to attribute them to preferences".

Bowen and Bok say in their book that a "race-neutral" admissions policy would be disastrous for American society, reducing black percentages at top colleges to less than 2 per cent from 7 per cent. ..

A more troubling question, the authors acknowledge, regards the white students whom these black students displaced. Would society have been better off if they had attended instead of the blacks?

"That is the central question", the authors write, "and it cannot be answered by data alone". It is a clash of 'principle versus principle, not principle versus expediency". They come down firmly on the side of admitting the blacks, saying that society needs them. ...

Bowen and Bok point out that if more than half of the blacks accepted at selective colleges had been rejected, the probability of acceptance for another white applicant would rise only 23%, to 27% from 25%.

Like handicapped parking spaces, they say, race-conscious admission policies have a major impact on the minority in question whereas eliminating them would only marginally help members of the majority.

One commonly voiced objection to affirmative action that the authors seek to demolish is the assertion that since blacks admitted through race-sensitive policies do not keep up with their white colleagues, they end of failed and stigmatized.

Affirmative Achievement

A new study of graduates from a group of 28 highly selective colleges and universities gives support to race- conscious admissions policies. Here are some of the study's findings.

Percentage of Graduates who attained a Doctoral or Professional Degree

                                                                        Black              White

From the group of elite schools                      40                    37

From all schools                                             8                      12

Percentage of Graduates from the group of elite Colleges who have led Community or Social Service Activities since College, by type of Advanced Degree and Race

Law Degree                            21                    15

Medical Degree                      18                    9

Business Degree                     14                    8

Doctoral Degree                     33                    6